The Chicago Cubs added more depth to their bullpen by making another trade.
The Chicago Cubs needed to add more pitching depth either to their bullpen or the starting rotation this offseason. The Cubs did just that with choosing the former option with making a trade with the Texas Rangers to acquire reliever Matt Festa for cash considerations.
Who is Matt Festa?
The 31-year-old Matt Festa was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the seventh round of the 2016 MLB June Amateur Draft. Festa made his Major League Debut on July 14th, 2018, against the Colorado Rockies pitching 0.2 of an inning and allowing two hits. During his tenure with the Seattle Mariners Matt Festa had a 4.32 ERA, with 102 strikeouts in 93.2 innings pitched.
The East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania alumni signed with the New York Mets as a free agent for 2024 where he made one appearance in which he allowed five runs, four of them earned, in just one inning of work. Festa was subsequently granted his release to free agency where he ended up signing with the Texas Rangers. During his time with the Ranger Festa made 18 appearances, with a 6-0 record, a 4.37 ERA, and 23 strikeouts in 22.2 innings of works.
What will the Chicago Cubs do with Matt Festa?
The Brooklyn, NY native will figure to compete for either the last middle relief spot open in the bullpen or be the long man for the pen. Festa’s competition for either of those spots will be right-handers Eli Morgan and Julian Merryweather, and lefty Rob Zastryzny. He will also have competition from Ben Heller who the Cubs signed to a minor league deal earlier this offseason.
Adding Matt Festa was a solid move for the Chicago Cubs to make being they needed more depth in the bullpen. The downside to adding Matt Festa is he is out of minor league options which limits the roster flexibility. If Festa doesn’t work out the only thing the Chicago Cubs gave up in the deal was cash and thankfully not a prospect.
Matt Festa could hopefully turnout to be a low-risk, high-reward type move that hopefully breaks the Chicago Cubs way. In a corresponding move the Chicago Cubs designated Miles Mastrobuoni for assignment.
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